Down Goes Frazier! Down Goes Frazier!

-
Now that the NBA will soon be rid of the Black Mamba, I thought it was time to reprise the call that inspired my post titles of the same name on this blog. Click on the label below to see how often I've summoned this call.

Down goes Frazier: Foreman recalls stunning victory

-
George Foreman, right, sent Joe Frazier to the canvas six times in less than two rounds to claim Frazier's heavyweight championship in a bout at Kingston, Jamaica, on Jan. 22, 1973. Foreman, who was 24 at the time, would retire in 1977 but come back to win a share of the title in 1994 at age 45.

January 22, 2013

Monday was a uniquely convergent day for the reverend George Foreman. He watched Barack Obama's second inauguration, spent time reflecting on the legacy of Martin Luther King, whom he called a "a hero," and took phone calls from people who remembered it was also the 40th anniversary of the "Sunshine Showdown," which completed his ascent from the mean streets of Houston's Fifth Ward to the world heavyweight boxing championship.

Lakers 92, Celtics 131

Recap Box Score Play-By-Play Shot Chart Conversation

	1	2	3	4	T
LAL (14-7)	20	15	25	32	92
BOS (16-10)	24	34	31	42	131

Final

9:00 PM ET, June 17, 2008
TD Banknorth Garden
Boston, MA

LOS ANGELES LAKERS
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS
Vladimir Radmanovic, SF	22	2-6	2-6	0-0	0	3	3	0	0	0	0	5	6
Lamar Odom, PF	40	2-8	0-1	10-16	0	10	10	5	0	0	3	4	14
Pau Gasol, FC	32	4-7	0-0	3-4	0	8	8	2	0	0	5	3	11
Kobe Bryant, SG	43	7-22	3-9	5-5	1	2	3	1	1	0	4	1	22
Derek Fisher, PG	28	2-4	0-2	3-3	0	0	0	4	0	0	1	5	7
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS
Luke Walton, SF	14	2-4	1-2	3-4	0	0	0	2	1	0	0	2	8
Jordan Farmar, PG	26	3-5	3-4	3-4	0	1	1	1	1	0	4	2	12
Sasha Vujacic, SG	15	3-4	1-2	0-0	1	1	2	1	1	0	2	0	7
Ronny Turiaf, C	11	1-1	0-0	0-0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	2	2
Trevor Ariza, SF	9	1-3	0-1	1-2	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	3
Chris Mihm, C	DNP COACH'S DECISION
Ira Newble, SF	DNP COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS		FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS
		27-64	10-27	28-38	2	27	29	16	4	0	19	25	92
		42.2%	37.0%	73.7%	Team TO (pts off): 19 (32)
BOSTON CELTICS
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS
Paul Pierce, SF	39	4-13	2-7	7-8	1	2	3	10	2	0	2	2	17
Kevin Garnett, PF	36	10-18	0-1	6-7	3	11	14	4	3	1	0	2	26
Kendrick Perkins, C	13	1-3	0-0	0-0	2	2	4	0	0	1	2	5	2
Ray Allen, SG	32	8-12	7-9	3-3	1	3	4	2	3	0	1	0	26
Rajon Rondo, PG	32	8-20	0-1	5-7	2	5	7	8	6	0	1	3	21
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS
P.J. Brown, PF	16	1-2	0-0	4-4	1	2	3	2	1	1	0	4	6
James Posey, SF	26	4-4	3-3	0-0	1	2	3	1	3	1	1	2	11
Leon Powe, PF	9	3-5	0-0	2-2	1	3	4	0	0	0	0	5	8
Eddie House, PG	16	2-6	1-5	4-4	0	2	2	5	0	0	0	0	9
Glen Davis, PF	15	1-2	0-0	1-2	2	2	4	0	0	0	0	2	3
Tony Allen, SG	6	1-2	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	2
Sam Cassell, PG	DNP COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS		FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS
		43-87	13-26	32-37	14	34	48	33	18	4	7	25	131
		49.4%	50.0%	86.5%	Team TO (pts off): 8 (7)

Finals Predictions: The Final Accounting

At long last, we've come to the final installment of what I like to call "making the pundits eat crow." The earlier installments can be found here.


At the end of the day, however, there's no stopping Kobe and friends. The Lakers are simply better. Much, much better. The Lakers offense is supremely versatile. And their defense is dangerously intense, filled with a rage that can boil an ocean.With nine championships rings as a coach, Jackson has once again put together the right pieces necessary to win it all: Derek Fisher, Sasha Vujacic, Vladimir Radmonovic, Luke Walton, Jordan Farmar, Ron Turiaf, etc. With the risk of sounding immodest, Ive covered the NBA Finals on-site as a credentialed journalist for seven consecutive years since 2001.

Lakers in six.

--PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER

It's almost like Acie Earl never existed. But unfortunately for the green people, the Lakers are going to win the series. The Lakers are deeper and more talented, and they have a vastly superior coach. Kobe Bryant is the best player in the game. He has become Jordan-like, with the ability to involve all of his teammates or take over a game all by himself, almost on a whim. He will be too much. The Celtics are unsettled in their rotation and maddeningly inconsistent. Boston is a jump-shooting team with a halting offense. Garnett still passes up big shots. Pierce can be too demurring, which doesn't fit his DNA. Allen recently disappeared for a month. Someday, the Celtics might again rule the world. Someday, the green people might have a championship-caliber trio of stars. This is not the year.

Lakers in six.

--Michael Arace, Columbus Dispatch

So who suffers this time? The Celtics swept their two games against the Lakers in the regular season. However both wins came before Pau Gasol joined the Los Angeles. Given that, my head says Lakers in five.

--StarTribune


The Boston Celtics will again reign supreme over the Los Angeles Lakers in seven games, causing poor Mazzczech to shed a tear in his Tom Benson coffee cup.

Kobe Bryant is one of the NBA's premier scorers. There's no denying that. But Kobe is a one-man show.
Don't tell me that Pau Gasol (and Jimmy probably spelled it Paul Gasol) and Lamar Odom constitute a solid wingman tandem to Kobe. Now if we're talking Wilt Chamberlain, we all know he needed no wingman. But since we're talking actually on-the-court activities, the Celtics will stymie Kobe.
They've already done it once when they made LeBron James look like a prince rather than King James as LeBron struggled in at least five games in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Boston at least claims two legitimate threats with Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce.

The talk of Odom and Gasol switching back and forth to guard KG is laughable.
Garnett will hand either one of those two a beatdown comparable to Foreman-Frazier.
Kobe, Phil Jackson, Magic Johnson and whatever other "B" Hollywood starlet sitting courtside will mysteriously disappear. And it ain't from that Bermuda Triangle nonsense Jackson calls an offense.
The rippling waves from a tomahawk dunk dropped by LSU's own Glen "Big Baby" Davis will swallow the Staples Center, the Forum, the Hollywood sign, the Governator's crib, Rodeo Drive, Reggie Bush's Heisman Trophy and maybe even Britney Spears' problems.

I can see it now. Poor Jack Nicholson and Jimmy Mashek sobbing and weeping will jump on Nicholson's "Easy Rider" motorcycle after the Lakers lose Game 7.

They'll ride off into the sunset dejected, scouring through Chamberlain's little black book for answers.

And as easy as it is to find comfort through those pages, even Jack and Jim will strike out there, too.

--Sun Herald (Biloxi, MS)


10 reasons why the Celtics will win their 17th world championship:

1. Paul Pierce

I wouldn't suggest he is better than Kobe Bryant, but for this series he will eliminate the Kobe Advantage. Pierce has the most to gain or lose in this series. This is his day to shine, on the biggest stage, and finally get something he's always craved -- his due.

That will come not only with a championship but an MVP performance.

Los Angeles is where he grew up as a youth. Boston is where he grew up as an adult.

You couldn't write a better script. Only a leading man, like Pierce, could make it happen.

Kobe will have average more points, probably in the high 20s maybe even the low 30s. But Pierce will be around the mid-20s, which will offset the MVP.

2. West Coast bias

I can't say I blame them. In the National Football League, the AFC is the big league and the NFC the junior circuit. The same in baseball, with the American League being the daddy to the National League.

The Lakers and Spurs have combined to win seven of the last nine titles. Only the Miami Heat (2006) and Detroit Pistons (2004) have won it from east of the Mississippi.

The problem is the West was better from 1 through 10, but not 1 through 2.

The Celtics dominated the regular season over the Western Conference (25-5) and they were an impressive 12-4 against their eight playoff teams.

Too many people remember the Celts' struggles against Atlanta and Cleveland and not their dominance from opening day.

The East wasn't great, but it wasn't as bad as it's been for much of the last decade. The Pistons were every bit as good as San Antonio.

3. Kevin Garnett

He is not Mr. Clutch, just yet, but trust me, this guy is taking this run to the finals very, very seriously.

Garnett has been good for most of the playoffs, but it says here he is great for the finals. While I believe Pierce's matchup with Kobe Bryant is the key to the series, Garnett is the wild card.

The Lakers big men can't match Garnett's intensity.

He came to Boston for one reason and that was to win these four games. He's dying to beat the rap of can't win the big one, which came from losing his first seven playoff series in Minnesota.

At practice on Monday, it was like talking to someone in search of his lost child. There was no joy in just getting this far.

4. Celtics defense

The Lakers just played one of the best defensive teams in the league in San Antonio (90.6), which trailed only Detroit (90.1) and Boston (90.3) in points allowed.

They beat them pretty good, winning the series 4-1 while averaging 93.4 points a game.

There will be a difference beginning tonight at the Garden. With regrets to the Pistons, the Celtics defense is the best in the league.

The Celtics defense has been even better in their playoff slump. They've allowed only 87.3 points per game in 20 playoff games.

5. Lakers defense

What defense? Exactly.

The Celtics playoff struggles have been on offense. Cleveland and Detroit were their equal on defense.

It meant very few open looks for anybody not named Rajon Rondo. And Paul Pierce is really the only Celtic consistently able to create his own shot.

That will be less of an issue against the Lakers, who allowed 101.3 points per game this past season, a 10-spot more than the Celtics did.

The plays right into the Celtics weakness, which has been generating offense, particularly on the road.

This might be the key to the series.

6. Ray Allen

I said it before and I'll say it again: Everything changed Game 5 in Boston. It changed because Allen, for the first time since the playoffs began, decided he was going to "really" look for his shot.

Maybe it was playing against Richard Hamilton, who would use every ounce of energy to get open on the other end.

Whatever the case, Allen's 29- and 17-point efforts the last two games against Detroit, included five 3-pointers in Game 5 and three more in Game 6, gave the Celtics an offensive lift.

7. Garnett-Allen vs. Gasol-Odom

Let's just say Paul Pierce plays Kobe Bryant to a near draw, which is highly probable.

That means the secondary matchups could be the difference.

For the Celtics it is Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen and for the Lakers it is Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom.

Is this a fair fight? I don't think so.

Mind you, Gasol (18.8 points, 7.8 rebounds in the regular season) and Odom (14.2, 10.6) are deserving players. But are they up to snuff with Garnett (18.8, 9.2) and Allen (17.4 points per game)?

This means Kobe has to beat Pierce every night. I don't see it happening.

8. Homecourt advantage

This is not about simply winning at home, as the Lakers are 8-0 at the Staples Center in the postseason.

This is about a city, Boston, awakening it basketball roots.

The TD Banknorth Garden will be like the old Boston Garden. It will be louder than we have ever, and I mean ever, heard it before.

Celtics fans are not going to be nice to the Lakers or the referees.

Lakers coach Phil Jackson, who had public squabbles with Red Auerbach in his later years, will hear it too.

If the Lakers can overcome playing here, particularly secondary players like Odom and Gasol, they will win. I don't think they will.

9. Let's get physical

Remember the famous Kevin McHale clothesline which sent Kurt Rambis flying out of bounds?

That probably won't occur in this series, but neither will easy layups.

The Celtics will need to be physical and they have widebodies -- Kendrick Perkins, Leon Powe, P.J. Brown -- and feisty James Posey to do it.

The Celtics will try to slow the pace when the Lakers have the ball and that's where the physical play will begin.

10. A perfect storm

Is this a fairy tale or a perfect ending?

Teams don't make wholesale changes like the Celtics did (bringing in nine new players!) and win a championship. It just doesn't happen. In fact, it's never happened.

Until now.

Danny Ainge found two superstars, Garnett and Allen, with Hall of Fame statistics, and added them to Pierce. All of sudden, the Celtics and Celtics pride had returned.

The Celtics luckily survived their growing pains with Atlanta and Cleveland. I believe what happened against Detroit was the rule rather than the exception.

Thirty-somethings Garnett (32), Pierce (30) and Allen (32), with their combined zero championship rings, have too much at stake here. This might be their only chance.

--The Eagle-Tribune

The Six-Game Sweep Theory

On a day where all my posts feature commentary from Grampa Celtic, let's continue the theme with one more. I've noted on a couple of occasions that Bob Ryan called the 2008 NBA Finals the first six-game sweep in history. Just rhetorical flourish by a Celtics fan, I figured.

But, alas, I found a Laker fan who lends credence to this idea.

++

After one of the most memorable (or forgettable) collapses in recent sports history, the Los Angeles Lakers now stare at a nearly insurmountable 3-1 deficit against the far superior and eventual champion Boston Celtics. In Thursday’s Game Four, the uninspired and now downtrodden Lakers led by as many as twenty points midway through the third quarter, yet they somehow managed to grab defeat from the jaws of victory. To be sure, it was the largest comeback in Finals history in the shot clock era. It was the 2007 Mets, 2004 Yankees and 1978 Red Sox all rolled into one. And all Kobe Bryant had to say in his post-game press conference is how he wanted to go out and get drunk on… wine, beer and twenty shots, to be exact. Is this a champion’s reaction? Can we once and for all end the comparisons between Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan? Michael never lost in the Finals. Kobe’s about to lose his second.

Honestly, is there anybody inside or outside that locker room that thinks the Lakers still have a chance at a title? How is this the same Lakers team that beat the defending champion San Antonio Spurs? The team that suited up last night didn’t look like they could beat an NBDL team. They scored 33 points in the second half. That's two less than they scored in the first quarter. So much for consistency.

What’s even more amazing is that the Lakers led the first quarter by the largest margin in Finals history, outscoring the Celtics 35-14. Then they got lazy. They abandoned the triangle and failed to keep their foot on the neck of their opponents by settling for jump shots. How did the Zen Master let this happen?

I can’t lay all this on the Lakers. The Celtics played a great game. In fact, they probably should have won Game Three. Technically this series should be over by now. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always been a proponent of more basketball, but not this brand. I’m not even a Lakers fan and I feel deflated after watching that massacre. I can only imagine what they’re going through. It got so bad last night, Lakers fans were cheering on the Celtics. Who does that??

At the beginning of this series, Kobe Bryant said his Finals experience has shown him that a team can want it as bad as anyone, but it all boils down to execution. Well the Celtics are doing both… wanting and winning.

I give tremendous credit and praise to Doc Rivers and his coaching staff. They were able to tap into and inspire a team of men in Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce that wanted to be remembered as champions. If you’re an NBA fan, you have to be happy for these guys.

At What Point Did the Lakers Quit?

I probably wrote 25 articles declaring that the Lakers quit trying with seven minutes to go in the fourth quarter of the 12/30/2007 game at Staples. No one ever challenged me.

I just figured that no one was reading my blog.

But everyone agreed the Lakers quit trying in game 6 of the NBA Finals, or, as I like to say, the Celtics beat them into submission and choked the spirit out of their sphincter.

Below Bob Ryan tries to pinpoint the moment Big Chief Triangle and his troops cried uncle.

LEX PREVIOUSLY WROTE:

Third quarter. Score is 67-41. Vlads hits a three. Lead down to 23. Lakers still have a little bounce in their step. But Rondo takes the in bounds pass, goes coast-to-coast, is fouled by Kobe, the basket goes in and one. Rondo drains the freebie. 70-64. Lead back up to 26. Fisher hits an 11-footer to cut the lead to 24. Celtics miss two shots on their next possession. Lakers get the ball with a chance to reduce the lead to 21 points. Almost seven minutes left to play in the third quarter. Rondo strips Odom, again drives coast-to-coast, only this time hits a wide open Ray Allen in the corner who drills a three-pointer right in front of the Zen Mistress. Four of the five Lakers on the floor look visibly dejected, shoulders slumped and heads down. Celtics score six more points in a row to push the lead over 30. Lead never falls below 25 again.

Game over.

++

GRAMPA CELTIC WROTE:

There is no question that the Lakers disgraced themselves and the game of basketball by putting a 42-cent stamp on the affair and heading to the post office at some point in Game 6. The only debate is just when they decided to do so. Some think it was as early as the 38-29 juncture in the second quarter. That's when James Posey and Eddie House hit those back-to-back threes. Is it possible?

I thought they were still at least partially in it mentally at the half. After all, they had chopped a 24-point deficit in the fourth quarter of Game 2 to two in just 7:22. All right, they didn't show much life in the third quarter. The closest they got it was 23 (67-44), which is when Rondo came up with that acrobatic 3-point play, and then it was O-V-E-R.

But how about demonstrating some pride? How about not leaving Ray Allen open enough to recite the Gettysburg Address, set his feet, count to 10 and fire on those three threes he hit within 1:52 in the fourth? I expected Phil Jackson to call a timeout at that point and say, "Look, guys, we're going to lose, but you're not going to embarrass yourselves, me, the organization and the NBA by playing like pigs." Instead, he sat there to watch things get worse and worse, until it finally peaked at 43 (129-86).

The Celtics should have won by 25, but there was no reason for them to have won by 39, other than the LA surrender. Now I've been told that Big Chief Triangle did air them out at halftime. But whether he did or didn't, the general impression I got from the second half was that he had washed his hands of them. I do feel he came into the Finals with a contempt for the Celtics and a sense of entitlement. Sitting on that high chair (he has serious back and hip problems) is symbolic, as well as practical. He doth gazeth down on the rest of the NBA as if he were occupying a throne. He is more the Emperor of Laker basketball, rather than coach of the team. Did Doc "out-coach" him? I don't believe in that stuff. Doc did what was best for his team, and it obviously worked out very well. But the Lakers got no real emotional support that I could see from their coach.

The Game 4 Comeback without Commercials

McHale Weighs in on Banner 17, KG Trade

--Minneapolis Star Tribune

Timberwolves boss Kevin McHale congratulated Boston General Manager Danny Ainge by telephone one day after the Celtics won their 17th NBA championship. The two already were linked as former Celtics teammates. Now they also will be known for making the trade that brought Kevin Garnett to Boston.

McHale and Ainge were Celtics teammates the last time Boston had won a title, in 1986.

McHale also expressed happiness for Kevin Garnett, who spent 12 ultimately unfulfilling seasons with the Wolves, and maintained the team did the right thing by trading Garnett to Boston last summer for five players, including young star Al Jefferson, and two future draft picks.

"I'm happy with the direction we went in," McHale said after he watched potential draft picks work out at Target Center Wednesday. "The (contract) extension that Kevin was looking for -- $20 million for three years, a $60 million deal -- just was not going to happen. Glen (Wolves owner Glen Taylor) just was not comfortable doing that. When you get to that point, you say, 'If we're not going to sign him, we better trade him.' I thought that was the best deal by far, and I still think that."

At his season-ending news conference in April, somebody asked McHale if he would accept a championship ring if the Celtics won the title. He said no. When Larry Bird participated in an NBA media conference before the NBA Finals began, the first questioner asked Bird if he thought McHale traded Garnett to the Celtics rather than the Los Angeles Lakers because of the fierce rivalry between the teams. Bird, who had earlier proclaimed McHale to be the league's MVP for having made the Garnett trade, now characterizes the transaction as even-handed.

"That's people's perception," McHale said, shrugging. "If you think I went to seven guys on my staff and said, 'let's tell Glen this is a better deal so we can get Garnett to the Celtics and screw the Lakers,' and if you think I made that deal in an afternoon over coffee, well, you don't know much about the business of basketball. That deal went on for like a month and a half. That's just how things work. Everyone had their say. It's a business, man."

Does this Ever Get Old?

The Zen Mistress' First Clue

The Zen Mistress must have known early in game 6 that he was in for an historic beating.

Kobe came out on fire, while the entire Celtics team was 3-15.

Score?

10-10.

Not even a Big Chief Triangle pep talk at halftime could stem the tide. The Lakers simply threw in the towel.

Skippy Boy Bayless Goes Down with a Wimper

August 2007
KG roars like Tarzan, but plays like Jane.

December 2007
The Celtics don't match-up well against the Pistons, and lack their experience.

The Celtics party will soon come to an end when they travel West and play Utah and the Lakers.

March 2008
The Celtics will be fortunate if they win one game in Texas.

May 2008
The Celtics don't have the heart to get out of the East.

June 2008
The Lakers are younger, deeper, and better coached than the Celtics, and, quite frankly, the Lakers big three is better.

Today
I want to congratulate the Boston Celtics. I simply didn't think they could win it all with as much trouble as they were having against Atlanta and Cleveland in the first two rounds.

*************************
Wow.

I can't believe I waited all year to hear him eat crow, and that's the best he can do.

I'm soooo disappointed.

Celtics 17 Lakers 14

Game 5: KG, KG, and more KG

Stop with me for a second and try to put yourself in the mind of Kevin Garnett.

He's 48 minutes away from the moment he's been waiting a lifetime to reach. He's performed well in the Finals, but he hasn't had that monster game. He's been called out for not being "clutch" in the fourth quarter or just coming up empty in the fourth quarter. On Friday, Jim Rome said "Well, KG, you finally got your wish. You're on a team with players who can close the deal."

Ouch.

I say the pressure is off. KG has arrived at his moment. All he has to do is play his best basketball, or nearly so, and it's over. Everyone knows this and so does he.

Yet no one is really talking about KG going monster on Sunday.

I am.

KG will have had three days to prepare for Sunday.

He's gonna be rested and ready conquer.

One monster game and the hardware is his.

He's so close he can taste it.

Let's watch him make it happen.

"That's How You Fight"

After Game 4 I watched Paul Pierce leave the floor at Staples and enter the tunnel to the locker room. "That's how you fight," Pierce said to himself and anyone that was listening.

One concept I've been intrigued by since the beginning of the year is the notion of "imposing your will" on a basketball court. The concept was popularized by Tim Duncan, who often said that winning playoff games comes down to imposing your will on an opponent. Basketball isn't football, I thought, so what does he mean? If you try and be too physical, you'll get yourself in foul trouble and your team in trouble.

But as the season progressed, I started understanding the concept more.

In the 12/30 game at Staples, the play-by-play guy said "Kevin Garnett is now having his way against the Lakers." That's when the wheels started clicking. Getting what you what on offense and preventing the other team from getting what it wants on defense--that must be what's meant by imposing your will.

In part, at least.

Another part is fighting to get what you want.

And Paul Pierce is Larry Bird's equal on this one.

Larry might have been more talented and won more titles. But when it comes to fighting, fighting for what you want on a basketball court, Paul Pierce is tooth and nail, hammer and tong. Larry Bird would go to war with Pierce at his back and vice versa.

I'm not old enough to remember much about Bill Russell, the battlefield warrior. So no disrespect to the man that won eleven titles.

But since May of 1974, really the first year I declared Green to be my team, there have been three fighters who have stood out from the rest of the Celtics family during that period--Bird, Pierce, and Cowens. I loved Dave Cowens, but he quit on the Celtics once and then retired early. So he loses points with me there.

Pierce needs to close the deal tomorrow night, fight it out one last time this year and raise his arms to declare victory. Then he can climb another rung in the pantheon of Celtic greats.

KG Making the Purple See Green